CRS-15 but one focused solely on unclassified open source technologies has been proposed for implementation by the ODNI. One of the most important sources of information from non-governmental sources private sector contributors is commercial imagery that is purchased by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Commercial satellites provide extensive overhead coverage of targets throughout the world to supplement imagery from government satellites. In some cases it has also meant that overhead imagery of significant quality is available to anyone with access to the Internet. Although the background and extent of this use lies beyond the scope of this Report, the use of commercial imagery has had a major influence on the intelligence community, especially on the procurement and operation of government satellites.43 Commercial imagery, however, is a special case as the Government is in the many cases the principle customer. For most other open source information, the U.S. Government is only an incidental customer (and in some cases an undesired one).44
Department of Defense (DOD) The Defense Department has long been an important center of open source information. The Asian Studies Detachment (ASD) in Camp Zama, Japan has collected and analyzed open source information on Far Eastern topics since 1947. With the services of U.S. military personnel and Japanese civilians, the ASD translates and analyses information for military commands in the region and makes its products available to the Intelligence Community.45 Other military commands, some not technically part of the Intelligence Community, also undertake open source collection and analysis. Although the introduction of web-based information sharing systems makes it possible to share such information with other DOD and IC users, incentives to share information have not always been present. In the wake of the 9/11 Commission Report and during consideration of the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence established a working group to assess open source efforts throughout DOD. The effort resulted in the establishment of the Defense Open Source Council. The Council was tasked with establishing open source requirements and developing an open source strategy for all DOD components. In July 2005 there was a conference between FBIS (which would shortly merge into the National Open Source Center) and DOD open source officials. The conference aimed to improve support to military users, encourage information sharing, and inaugurate a long-term mutually beneficial relationship. However, many of the conference attendees reportedly concluded that open source collection is poorly funded, and the personnel involved in DOD open
43
See Richard E. Rowberg, “Commercial Remote Sensing by Satellite: Status and Issues,” CRS Report RL31218. 44
Special efforts are taken in some cases to avoid too many hits on certain websites from computers recognizable as coming from .gov addresses. 45
See David A. Reese, “50 Years fo Excellence: ASD Forges Ahead as the Army’s Premier OSINT Unit in the Pacific,” Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, October-December 2005.